Sunday Open Thread: West Wing Week

This week, the President embarked on a three country tour which took him to Poland, the G7 Summit in Brussels, Belgium and then onto France where the President reaffirmed the United States commitment of support for the people and government of Ukraine, announced broader efforts to strengthen and modernize NATO, highlighted our work to diversify European energy security, and deepened our negotiations around the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Bergdahl Was in Unit Known for Its Troubles
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ERIC SCHMITTJUNE 7, 2014

The platoon was, an American military official would assert years later, “raggedy.”

On their tiny, remote base, in a restive sector of eastern Afghanistan at an increasingly violent time of the war, they were known to wear
bandannas and cutoff T-shirts. Their crude observation post was
inadequately secured, a military review later found. Their first platoon leader, and then their first platoon sergeant, were replaced relatively early in the deployment because of problems.

…Indeed, an internal Army investigation into the episode concluded that the platoon suffered from lapses in discipline and security in the period before Sergeant Bergdahl — a private first class at the time who was promoted while in captivity — disappeared into Paktika Province, two officials briefed on the report said.

…His former platoon mates gave sharply contradictory accounts of how Sergeant Bergdahl viewed the war, and America’s proper role in it.

To many of those soldiers, Sergeant Bergdahl was viewed as standoffish or eccentric, smoking a pipe instead of spitting tobacco, as so many soldiers do, and reading voraciously when others napped or watched videos. But he was not isolated from his platoon mates, some said. And while he was, like other soldiers in the platoon, often disappointed or confused by their mission in Paktika, some of his peers also said that Sergeant Bergdahl seemed enthusiastic about fighting, particularly after the platoon was ambushed several weeks before his disappearance.

“He’d complain about not being able to go on the offensive, and being attacked and not being able to return fire,” said Gerald Sutton, who knew Sergeant Bergdahl from spending time together on their tiny
outpost, Observation Post Mest Malak, near the village of Yahya Khel, about 50 miles west of the Pakistani border.

Kennymack, I’m scratching my head trying to figure out what the GOP’s strategy is or all this just reflexive and rooted in desperation. The cracking started almost immediately.

crazycanuck

They didn’t have a strategy, all they had was hate for the black President.

jds09

I agree that’s a huge part of it. Using a boxing analogy, I’m wondering if they are swinging wildly going for a knockout punch because they see the 2014 ass-whupping machine setting them up for a beat down.

Kennymack1971

The minute Obamacare not only met but exceeded their enrollment goals in spite of all their ridiculous hysterical BS, the GOP has been lost and seeking something…anything that they can use to take down “That One”. They’ve tried to keep that nothing burger known as BENGHAZI! alive, pretended like they had nothing to do with the problems at the VA while attacking Gen.Shinseki and now they’ve sunk to demonizing a POW and his family because….Obama. They’re desperate and it’s truly pathetic.

TresL

Because I don’t watch or listen to RWNJ media, I had know idea that this story had become another right-wing obsession on which to levy attacks on PBO. It’s possible they’re just plain angry that every time they think they have an issue on which to hit the President, raise money, maintain their angry base and campaign on that it falls away either because it was based on lies or because PBO turns the issue to his advantage.

They never cared about Bergdahl. They used his capture to attack PBO and their using his release to do the same.

rikyrah

Folks be telling it. They stunk from the get go.

Miranda

This soldier and his family need and deserve privacy and recovery, but the realist in me hopes the Dems are able to have them do a major interview around mid October and then run clips of the GOP and the right wing being the demonic vermin that they are right before the elections in Nov.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

If he walked off his post previously then he should have been disciplined. Period end of story. The fact that he wasn’t speaks volumes about the chain of command for that outfit.

http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

This bish helped Sterling discriminate against Blacks and Latinos, but the NBA is allowing her to be involved with the Clippers?? We got played!

Shelly Sterling may stay part of L.A. Clippers after sale

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling would remain close to the organization under terms of the pending sale to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, according to two individuals close to the negotiations.

The individuals, who are not authorized to speak publicly, told The
Associated Press that the $2 billion deal allows for up to 10 percent of
the team – or $200 million – to be spun off into a charitable
foundation that Shelly Sterling would essentially run. The deal was
negotiated by Shelly Sterling after husband Donald Sterling’s racist remarks to a girlfriend were publicized and the NBA moved to oust him as team owner.

One of the individuals said Shelly Sterling and Ballmer would be
co-chairs of the foundation. The individuals said the foundation would
target underprivileged families, battered women, minorities and inner
city youths. “To benefit those on the receiving end of Donald’s rather
abhorrent remarks,” one individual said.

The idea to allow Shelly to continue some role in the team was floated early on by her attorney, Pierce O’Donnell – neither he nor Shelly Sterling responded to a request for comment – and it was enthusiastically agreed to by the NBA. “The NBA was all over it in terms of support,” one of the individuals said. “It gave her a meaningful role and stake in the team, and gave the NBA 100 percent sale of the team.”

It’s time to re-release the Shelly tapes. The tapes where she is pretending to be a government official “inspecting” her tenants apartments.

It breaks my heart when philanthropy is used a payola.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

That still won’t disqualify her as far as the NBA is concerned.

nellcote

It breaks my heart when philanthropy is used as payola.

===
I heard it’s actually to cut the taxes on the 2B. This morning they said Sterling won’t sell the team unless the NBA drops the 2.5M fine.

goldenstar

Ballmer has a lot of philanthropic experience. He knows and understands the standards and business of foundations. She will be operating within strict parameters.

rikyrah

hummmph!

Miranda

I had so hoped the Geffen group had won the bid, Oprah was a part of that group and I dont think Shelly Sterling would be getting away with this false portrait of herself as some unknowing innocent.

TresL

I don’t think they were ever going to win the bid, unfortunately, because of Oprah’s involvement. This is why Shelly Sterling got in there and expedited the process to rush the sale. I don’t think the Sterlings wanted anyone black to get that team. If the NBA owners had voted to terminate Sterling’s ownership, I think they would have assumed responsibility for the sale and they might have sold the team to a group that included black people. Shelly and her attorneys made sure that was never going to happen.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

I hear you but she gets to act that role knowing full well the NBA can’t do anything about it. Sterling may have been a billionaire but Shelley was obviously the smarter of the two. Way smarter.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

That may be true but unfortunately they really don’t have anything on her. If this deal gets finalized then my hats off to her. She played it beautifully. Got paid and still gets to stay in the loop.

jds09

Good Morning POU Fam!

http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

Mornin’!

goldenstar

Good Morning.

rikyrah

Morning jds

goldenstar

Good Morning all!

rikyrah

Morning goldenstar

crazycanuck

He means the RIGHT AND THE MEDIA. He forgot that one

oshuafoust @joshuafoust

As more details emerge about Bergdahl, the attempted smear of him by the right looks more and more despicable

rikyrah

we knew it was fishy from the get go.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

Well they smeared the parents. Turns out they’re Ron Paul Republicans. Called Bergdahl a traitor. Turns out he got captured while in the latrine and beat up a number of times after he tried to escape. Oh and he obviously refused to do any propaganda since no videos exist.

All this following the GOP begging the President for years to rescue Bergdahl then deleting their tweets of praise when he did.

And the media collaborated all the way down the line.

AxelFoley

Pathetic, ain’t it?

crazycanuck

Good Morning POU

rikyrah

Morning, cc.

How was your pizza?

crazycanuck

It was alright, just had the rest for breakfast lol. Now I want a coffee lol.

—Report: Obama moving on student loan debt- –
– — —President Obama at a White House event on Monday will move to ease college loan debt through executive actions, according to The New York Times.
Obama is scheduled to announce that he will expand on a 2010 law that capped borrowers’ repayments at 10 percent of their monthly income, the newspaper reported, adding that the move could help an estimated five million people.

Obama on Saturday signaled his support for a student loan reform measure proposed by Senate Democrats.

“…At a time when college has never been more important, it’s also never been more expensive,” Obama said in his weekly address, pointing to a bill proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), that could come up for a vote as early as Wednesday, as a solution.
— – – -SNIP – – –
“That’s the choice that your representatives in Congress will make in the coming weeks – protect young people from crushing debt, or protect tax breaks for millionaires.”
THERE IS MORE —
— – -He continues 2 CHALLENGE –ORGANIZE — annnnd SUPPORT Congress. – – – -LEADERSHIP! :>)

Don’t think it’s just the teaparty, some of those ‘conservative repubs’ are pretty ignorant and moronic also.

TresL

Yes, the only difference between the Tea Party and the rest of the party is that Tea Party folk are not ashamed to express their ignorant views publicly whereas the rest are very good at concealing their views and lying to voters to win elections.

A perfect example is Boehner declaring in the run-up to the 2010 elections that once elected, “Republicans are going to focus on jobs like a laser.” Since they took over the House their focus has been repealing Obamacare, restricting abortion, bringing the country to the brink of default, obstructing PBO’s job’s plan and just plain making life miserable for anyone who isn’t white and wealthy and isn’t that the Tea Party agenda? Yes indeed.

goldenstar

McCain in the house!

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

I understand what he’s saying and Bartlett has been fighting the good fight but the Teaparty IS the Republican party. Bruce just needs to take that final step and call it like it is.

AxelFoley

Bingo

Miranda

What the D-Day Veteran Told Obama at the 70th Anniversary Commemoration

After the president delivered his long speech and before he finally talked to Putin in Normandy, he was stopped on live television by a bent old soldier who gave Obama a piece of his mind.
06.06.14

COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — After the speeches were over at the American cemetery above the Normandy beaches on Friday morning, U.S. President Barack Obama and French President François Hollande walked in front of the scores of surviving American D-Day veterans to lay a wreath. But one of them—pale and bent beneath his baseball cap as if it weighed him down—stepped forward and took Obama’s hand, and would not let him go until he had said his piece.

Was the infirm old soldier, perhaps, taking Obama to task for the scandals in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs? Was he telling the president that American policy needed more spine? An old survivor has a kind of license to say whatever he wants, even to the president of the United States. Obama smiled warmly. But then, in front of the crowd and the world’s television cameras, he would. None of us in the crowd could hear.

as the infirm old soldier, perhaps, taking Obama to task for the scandals in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs? Was he telling the president that American policy needed more spine?

They just got to put nonsense in there, smdh

TresL

I know. That was ridiculously unnecessary and just plain stupid. We have no media anymore.

crazycanuck

And this, it’s not true. I saw the video and as soon as the President arrived,a loud cheer rang out.

…So as Obama spoke about the price of defending freedom with a massive military action like the Allied effort in World War II, the rhetoric must have seemed, to many of those old men listening, more than a little hollow. The only really enthusiastic ovation at Colleville-sur-mer was when Obama turned to the veterans on the stage and said, “Gentlemen, we are truly humbled by your presence here today.”….

TresL

Such a liar. This writer clearly did not watch the entire event or did and is deliberately lying to his readers. Every time PBO appeared on the scree, he was loudly cheered.

They lie because the truth always favors PBO.

jziglar

It was a lie. I didn’t see the speech, but I saw highlights of it, and clearly you could tell that the people were enthusiastic.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

Christie Amapour was reporting this live and said the crowd roared when PBO arrived. She also let it be know that PBO is wildly popular around the globe.

goldenstar

It’s not news. It’s an opinion piece. Until the last line where you learn what the veteran told him. And, I knew it was profound and that’s why the writer kept it to the end.

Alma98

I see they kept searching for a vet who had something spicier to say. Because the other vet telling PBO thank you for keeping us out of wars was not what the quote they wanted.

Kennymack1971

So desperate. Joy Ann Reid nailed them a couple of weeks ago when she said that they wanted this President to be as reviled as George W. Bush was at the end of his 2nd term. And that’s just not going to happen. Sorry MSM but you’re going to have to just STAY MAD.

I C HER RAINBOW in sooo many forms. –Which REMINDS us of HER annnnd KEEPS HER in OUR — –☺http://www.onlinefreecomputers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Valentines-Hearts21.png

rikyrah

so beautiful

Miranda

Blacks and Asians Denied Entry to Dallas Bar, Ex-Employee Charges

Former employee claims reports of racism at Kung Fu Saloon accurate
by CARLA WADE June 6, 2014 at 8:17 PM

DALLAS — Kung Fu Saloon in Uptown Dallas is accused of racist business practices, like using its dress code to deny entrance to minority customers and not applying the code to white customers.

“I never saw any white people getting turned away,” said Stephanie Guidry, a former employee.

Guidry was an event coordinator at the bar from September of 2012 to January of 2013. She said managers told employees to screen customers, not only when people came to the bar in person, but over the phone.

“I would have to call them up on the phone and speak to them on the phone,” she said. “And listen to their accent — listen to see if they sounded ghetto or too Asian.”

“Ghetto,” she said, was a code word for black. In those instances, she was supposed to say the bar was booked.

Morning GLH, I like that description.
Hope you’re having a nice Sunday, blessings to you and yours. (((HUGS)))

GreenLadyHere

Thank U Alma :>) –BLESSINGS —-ALWAYS —NEEDED annnd APPRECIATED. :>)

Miranda

SMH…..Bartow, FL is in a part of Florida that is a confederate haven.
——————————-
What Happened After Fla. Teen Was Charged With 2 Felonies for a Science Experiment

Kiera Wilmot, now 17, is trying to move on as she preps for college after graduating from high school, but one thing still hangs over her: an arrest record

excerpt:
With tensions still high on her return to Bartow High after a 10-day suspension, it was recommended at that point that she not finish the remainder of her junior year, even though there were only five weeks left. To be sure that she could keep up academically, she was sent to an alternative school with children who had discipline problems for the remainder of the school year. She would be allowed to return to Bartow High, and attend classes with her sister again, for her senior year.

Her sister, Kayla, told The Root how lonely it was at Bartow High without Kiera and how harsh people were after the incident. The girls were often mistaken for each other, so Kayla was called a terrorist (something Kiera also had to deal with). Sometimes, even knowing that Kayla was not Kiera, peers would still taunt the older twin, saying that they “deserved what they got” and “should be in jail.”

“They made me not want to go to school at that time. Everything was going on; it was just way too much stress,” Kiera said about her eventual return to Bartow High. “Some people are still a little mean about it. Some have forgotten about it. I’m hoping everybody forgets about it.”

That’s not the only impact the incident has had on her. During her suspension, the A and B student saw her grades drop to D’s and F’s. Although she managed to bring them back up to par at the alternative school, she was still denied the right to graduate with honors like her sister because of the circumstances: her troubles at the school, the drop in her grades one semester, and the fact that she broke her attendance at the school to attend the alternative school.

She’s happy to be with her sister. They will triumph. This experience is another blip on their road toward that end.

Alma98

SMH They’re trying to ruin this girl’s life.
Don’t read the comments.

Miranda

He lucky he was allowed to live…and why isn’t he STILL in prison from the previous times?
————————-
Sex offender tries to kidnap 6-year-girl in Seattle, gets beaten instead

Jesse Brisbin asks little girl to leave park with him. She says no, he grabs her hand and drags her from park. Her father and others chase man, beat him.
BY DEBORAH HASTINGS
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS June 7, 2014, 3:46 PM

A young girl playing in a Seattle park was dragged away by convicted sex offender Thursday evening. But her father and others ran after the man, tackled him and beat him until police arrived.

A twice-convicted child molester got a beat-down after he tried to kidnap a young girl playing in a public park, authorities said.

The child was playing with her siblings at Benefit Park when Jesse Brisbin, 30, asked her to leave with him, KOMO Newsreported.

She refused, but Brisbin grabbed her hand and began dragging her out of the park. But she managed to break free and make a run for it, police said.

Meanwhile, her father, his friends and others chased Brisbin, tackled him and beat him. Then the dad made Brisbin call 911 on his own cell phone and report what he’d done,KIRO-TVreported.

Damn its been 20 years?!?! I can honestly say I remember exactly where I was when the verdict came in….what a moment.
———————–
Figures in OJ Simpson saga have moved on
Created: 06/08/2014 8:26 AM
By: LINDA DEUTSCH

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As if trying to escape a recurring nightmare, most of the survivors of O.J. Simpson’s “Trial of the Century” refuse to talk about it on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. And that includes Simpson who sent word from prison that he has nothing to say. Two members of the famous defense “dream team” are dead and only one, F. Lee Bailey, continues a campaign to prove to the public that the acquitted defendant truly was not guilty of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

Weird that Americans generally are so big on anniversaries but so ignorant of history.

crazycanuck

Strangely I don’t really remember where I was

AxelFoley

Canada? I’m just guessing…

Alma98

heehee

crazycanuck

TROLL LOVER lol

crazycanuck

TROLL LOVER lol

Alma98

LOL

crazycanuck

TROLL #2

crazycanuck

TROLL #2

goldenstar

I remember where I was with my sister, 2-year old nephew at a restaurant in Chicago’s Water Tower Place, Mity Nice Grill, where we were some of the only POC. Oy.

rikyrah

How VA Outsourcing Hurts Veterans

By Phillip Longman

On Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, announced that he had reached a compromise with John McCain and other Senate Republicans on how to fix whatever it is that needs fixing at the VA. The legislation contains some good ideas, like providing for the hiring of more doctors and nurses where they are needed. But the bill also contains one provision that is a significant concession to Republican enemies of government. If enacted, it would lower the quality of health care received by veterans while setting back the movement for health care delivery system reform generally.

This is the provision in the draft legislation that would, according to a Senate Veterans Committee press release, “allow veterans living more than 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic to access more convenient private care.” Given all the headlines about excessive wait times and backlogs at the VA, that might sound smart at first hearing, but in practice it could well lead to a disaster.

To begin with, as most people in this debate don’t seem to know or care to remember, the VA already engages in extensive outsourcing of medical services. For example, under the Bush Administration, the VA began contracting with Humana to provide care to veterans in rural areas, a program that continues under the Access Received Closer to Home project. In 2009, the Senate Veterans Affairs committee determined that the VA was already outsourcing some $3 billion year to private providers.

By 2012, the Obama administration had continued the trend to the point that the public employee unions that represent VA employees were screaming. “Contract physicians and nurses lack the specialized skills and best practices of clinicians who dedicate their lives to serving the veteran population as VA employees,” complained Alma Lee, National VA Council President for the American Federation of Government Employees. “Excessive contracting out has put many medical centers in the red, without benefitting the patient.”

She’s not so much dangerous because let’s face it who really watches her show? I’ve seen Gilligan Island marathons get a bigger audience.

But she has issues with the Black family currently occupying the White House. I still remember her weekly advice for helping Mitt Romney get elected. And now that she cried real tears begging to keep her job MHP is going to be the useful idiot’s useful idiot.

FBI investigates threats sent to father of American soldier as further details emerge about harsh conditions of his captivity

US authorities are investigating death threats sent to the parents of Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier released by the Taliban last week after five years in captivity.

The FBI is examining four threatening emails sent to Bob Bergdahl and his wife Jani.

One of the emailed threats was sent to Bergdahl’s father on the day a rally in their hometown of Hailey, Idaho, celebrating his release was cancelled abruptly, amid controversy over the circumstances of his handover to US commandos in Afghanistan on 31 May.

Meanwhile, more detail has emerged about the harsh conditions of his captivity, according to anonymous sources. Bergdahl, 28, has told doctors that he was locked in a metal cage in darkness for weeks at a time and was tortured and beaten by his captors, according to US officials quoted anonymously by the Associated Press and the New York Times.

Bergdahl was held in a metal cage as punishment for trying to escape, the New York Times reported, and is now being treated in a medical facility in Germany for skin and gum disorders typical of poor hygiene.

LMAO! Let’s see if he’s learned anything and keeps it moving or will he try to start a beef he will lose.

crazycanuck

I’ll leave this because I’m so lost lol

Alma98

Tichina played Pam on Martin’s show.
And like her I don’t don’t know who French Montana is either lol.

BoomerGal

Remember, Rochelle? Tichina can really act.

Miranda

Both “Martin” and “Everybody Loves Chris” will go down as being culturally relevant shows in which she had starring roles…..I have no idea who the hell French Montana is.

http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

Sounds like a brand of mustard.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

LOL!!

rikyrah

I love the gif…LOL

http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

Dayum!

And if Khloe’s smart, she’ll keep her mouth shut. She don’t want it with Tichina!

gn

Kinda getting tired of people running off with the mouth against black women these days. She’s been on some of my favorite shows and also saw her recently on Wife Swap. She seems like a genuinely kind person who has an amazing sense of humor. Of all people to try to clown, why her? Glad she checked this clown.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

Everything they were told about this man. Everything they believed about him came crashing down. You can see it in her face

Whether a studio decides to proceed with a black-oriented film can depend on the success of other movies with primarily African-American casts, even if the projects are unconnected, said Diggs, who starred in “The Best Man” romantic comedy and its sequel.

In a recent interview, the actor said he and others who worked on the “Best Man” movies are eager to start on a third. But its fate is tied to how other black-oriented films, including the upcoming “Think Like a Man Too,” perform at the box office, he said.

“Unfortunately, the business is such that as far
as studios are concerned, they judge one quote-unquote black movie on
how other ‘black’ movies have done, even if they have nothing to do with each other,” he said.

I was about to say he’s kind of late isn’t he? I mean like one hundred years late.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

I was about to say he’s kind of late isn’t he? I mean like one hundred years late.

rikyrah

Miranda

___________________________________________________________ok Breezy! Bieber beat you to the punch! See, Bieber’s PR team when HAM on a repentance…*this is so ridiculous!*
———————————
Justin Bieber turns to faith after video scandal, gets baptized in New York City: report

The ‘Baby’ singer is apparently repenting his sins after apologizing for making racist remarks in old videos that leaked online.

I literally laughed out loud on this one. He needs a new PR team. Actually he just needs to take some time off and get his shit together.

http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

I can’t wait for the “leaked” video of Bieber praise dancing.

Miranda

________________I can’t wait to see him helping carry out Sister Annie Mae when she shout and faint.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

LOL! It would be like a Sequoia falling on a greasy haired squirrel.

AxelFoley

LOL, it’d be like Eddie and Arsenio in that church scene in ‘Coming to America’. Biebs would be shocked just like Akeem and Semmi.

rikyrah

Why Democrats Are Losing the Voter-ID Message War

Democrats have yet to counteract the Republicans’ voter-ID narrative—or their polling—even though most African Americans oppose new voter-ID laws when they catch on to what they are.
By: Charles D. Ellison
Posted: June 5 2014 4:49 PM

Voter-ID laws must not be all that bad if black folks like them, right?

That’s the new political wolf ticket that the Republican rank and file want you to buy. Conservative activists, as jumpy as So You Think You Can Dance contestants, have hit the media trail with their latest talking point: Black folks heart voter ID, courtesy of freshly baked polling numbers, courtesy of Fox News—the king of unapologetically biased networks.

Per Fox, 51 percent of African Americans are down with voter ID when they’re asked: “Supporters of these laws say they are necessary to stop ineligible people from voting illegally. Opponents say these laws are unnecessary and mostly discourage legal voters from voting. What do you think?”

And Republicans are, predictably, elated with the results, produced by this feat of leading questions and survey chicanery. Polls, after all, validate political narratives—if you word your question right, folks will tell you the sky is red. Flacks use them to raise money and win elections.

Polls won’t, however, point you in the direction of that other poll showing that way fewer whites feel the Voting Rights Act is necessary. Nor will they show the North Carolina PPP poll (pdf) that showed 72 percent of African Americans strongly oppose voter-ID laws—in a state that’s 25 percent black.

The Fox poll offers a dangerously legit-looking way to give mostly Republican state legislators ammunition for an amazingly misleading “we told you so” on voter ID. The message, beyond the numbers, suggests there’s nothing wrong with rigging, complicating and corrupting a relatively decent voting system that’s precariously fragile from years of abuse.

Orange Is the New Black, returning to Netflix on Friday, harnesses the story of the type of woman who has it easy in this country to humanize those who don’t.

By: Terron Moore
Posted: June 5 2014 3:01 AM

Orange Is the New Black premieres all episodes of its second season on Friday, June 6. Plot specifics aside, if the message of the next iteration of the critically acclaimed Netflix drama is anything like the first, there’s one takeaway we can look forward to, and it’s this:

Criminals are people, too. Sometimes they’re white people. And if it takes a narrative centered on a prissy blond woman to lure the viewer into feeling empathy for the lives of characters of color—the ones society has so many more stereotypes about and so much less compassion for—then so be it.

This is what makes Jenji Kohan’s adaptation of real-life prison survivor Piper Kerman’s novel, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, which loosely inspires the Netflix drama, so powerful—and what makes me call it a “black show.”

As the show starts, Piper—a syrupy-sweet Jen Aniston type sharing nude shower time with gruff, hardened women who are (gasp) minorities—is “othered” from the rest of the inmates. The series is unflinching on many levels, but it relies on the fact that preppy Piper doesn’t have much life experience with blacks and Latinos—especially not ones who seem to her (not to mention many viewers) to be so untethered and dangerous.

By the first season’s close, however, Piper’s descent into primal madness—a jungle her friends have already adapted to—has become a very small plot point in a mass of mighty, heartbreaking stories about the racially diverse characters around her.

Good grief. And a Black show with a Black star or Latino actress in the lead can’t humanize women of color? Spare me.

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

Good grief. And a Black show with a Black star or Latino actress in the lead can’t humanize women of color? Spare me.

7thangel

it’s supposed to be a gateway. a gateway to the lives of the less advantaged women in prison and jail, specifically the women of color. that’s very different from the term humanize.

plus, it’s not a black show, no matter how you look at it.

rikyrah

Springettsbury Twp. woman’s family history quest reveals much more than black and white
For Myra “Neicy” DeShields-Moulton, research is a way to show younger generations where, and who, they came from

By Gary Haber

It seems like you drive for miles up and down the hills of southern York County before you reach it.

The tiny cemetery of Fawn AME Zion Church in Fawn Township is tucked down a narrow road that’s easy to miss.

Buried here, steps from the church, are many of Myra “Neicy” DeShields-Moulton’s relatives. Three fought for the Union in the Civil War.

A weathered stone marks the grave of Wesley Green, who was shot in the forearm during the war. Green passed in 1908, at the age of “about 69 years old,” his grave marker says. He is one of at least six black Civil War veterans buried in Pennsylvania and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore whose leaves are on DeShields-Moulton’s family tree.

Plenty of people dabble in their family’s genealogy. Ancestry.com and its related family-history websites, for example, have 2.7 million paid subscribers. But DeShields-Moulton, 54, has done far more than most. She’s made it her mission the last 15 years to peel back the layers of her personal history.

“It’s important that I know who I am,” she said, dressed in a T-shirt from a DeShields family reunion from a few years ago.

What DeShields-Moulton has discovered has helped answer the question she first asked as a teenager, when she noticed the rainbow of skin colors in her family — caramel, milky white, a light-skinned mother, an aunt who looked Chinese — and asked her grandmother, “Why do we look this way?